Foxconn Axes Suicide Compensation, Plans to Move Some Production to Taiwan

Foxconn, a manufacturing partner with Apple and many other mobile giants, just had their annual shareholders meeting, which was predictably tense given the recent suicide attempts by employees. CEO Terry Gou showed the note left by the last jumper (who survived), which told his mother that she would get generous compensation for the incident, and that this was the only way the son could provide for her. As a result of this employee turning the compensation into a kind of bonus, Foxconn will no longer be giving money out to the families of those who attempt suicide. Additionally, Foxconn has halted hiring on mainland China and is even considering moving some of its production facilities back to Taiwan.

Apple was reportedly willing to help increase wages, in addition to Foxconn’s own wage increases. At this point, it’s pretty obvious that money is the main issue at hand here, although of the 12 attempts, three were a result of mental illness, and eight of an emotional disorder. When you’ve got 800,000 employees, there’s bound to be some suicide incidents based on statistics alone. The fact that employees are seeing it as a source of revenue, however, is pretty crazy, and just goes to show little is made by the fine folk who make our wonderful little cell phones.